On Tue, 4 Dec 2018 23:28:01 -0700, graham > wrote:

>On 2018-12-04 4:38 p.m., Dave Smith wrote:
>> On 2018-12-04 5:12 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>>
>>> Flank steak and chicken wings used to be dirt cheap and beef bones
>>> were free.* I paid $6.99/lb but the three tails are nice and meaty.
>>> I'll get several meals (which I can freeze) out of the oxtail stew.
>>>
>>
>> I am very picky when it comes to oxtails. They have to be on sale cheap,
>> and there has to be a lot of meat on the bones. It is bad enough to be
>> charged steak prices for a cut of meat that requires so much work to
>> make it tender and tasty, but I especially dislike paying that much for
>> bones.
>>
>But then, why is stewing beef so expensive? It may be very lean but it
>is meat from the shin and tough as blazes!

Stewing beef is only tough and expensive when one is too lazy to cut
their own... buy a roast whatever cut you like when on sale and cut it
up yourself... and then you won't be stewing mystery meat... stew meat
is always a blend of trimmings and scraps, they don't hack up a nice
looking roast. Stew meat is made from that which if wraped as a roast
would be so ugli/repulsive no one would buy it... the same type of
waste is made into ground; gristle, silver skin, and all. The price
is high because you are paying for the butcher's extra knife labor.